Introduction

Over the past decade the nature of forms of employment has changed dramatically (Barley et al., 2017). Authors (e.g., Li et al., 2020; Zhang & Parker, 2019) assert that the decentralisation of workplaces and disappearance of traditional job sites, which is extensively associated with the ongoing spread of digital careers and work-from-home professions, have encouraged working individuals to hold more than one job at the same time. Caza et al. (2018) have noticed a decline in the number of individuals who work one job within a single organization. Moreover, the same authors consider that multiple jobholding has become a phenomenon among today’s active labour force. This explains the growing attention management scholars have paid to the concept of “multiple jobholding” over the past five years following in the footsteps of scholars in health, economics, sociology and psychology (Burmeiste-Lamp et al., 2012; Campion et al., 2020).

The definition of multiple jobholding varies slightly across disciplines. In economics, it has been referred to as holding a second job (Paxson & Sicherman, 1996), while in sociology, it has been perceived as “self-employment that occurs as side work taken on in addition to one’s regular job” (Nelson, 1999, p. 519). For scholars of psychological health, multiple job holding describes “physicians employed in government clinics and hospitals (who) also have private practices” (Eggleston & Bir, 2006, p. 157), whereas management researchers use this concept primarily when referring to “people engaging in two or more jobs simultaneously for identity rather than financial reasons” (Caza et al., 2018, p. 3). Recently, Campion et al. (2020) have articulated a more detailed definition for multiple jobholding and consider it as “the act of working for employers and self-employment, where in all tasks or sets of tasks are performed in exchange for, or expectation of, compensation” (p. 170). This last definition provides a basis for differentiating between multiple jobholding and gig works as in gig work, employees work in isolation, independently, remotely and only on short-term activities, but this is not usually the case in multiple jobholding (Ashford et al., 2018). Furthermore, and to differentiate between multiple and dual job holders, Webster et al. (2019) define the dual jobholder as an individual who works for and receives income from two different employers and/or organizations even if one of them is totally owned by him/her. Accordingly, the dual job holder has a primary job, which reflects the job the employee devotes the greatest number of working hours to, and a secondary job in which the employee dedicates a number of his working hours but consistently less than those devoted to the primary job (Hipple, 2010). Very few studies have addressed multiple jobholding (Burmeiste-Lamp et al., 2012; Campion et al., 2020). Moreover, it has been employed, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, as an antecedent for employee mental illness.

Over the past two decades and in a different line of enquiry, mental illness, defined by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) as “a clinically significant disturbance in an individual’s cognition, emotion regulation, or behavior that reflects a dysfunction in the psychological, biological or developmental processes underlying mental functioning” (APA, 2018 Cited in Hennekam et al., 2021), has become topical in research for health, psychology and sociology scholars (Hasin et al., 2018). This definition has been employed when elaborating and explaining many social practices, occupational activities and individual behaviours (Follmer & Jones, 2018). The United Nations (2007) has considered individuals who suffer from mental illness as disabled persons. Consequently, many countries have started to guarantee such individuals flexible work options, such as counselling services and the chance to work from home (Wang & Xu, 2019; Villotti et al., 2012). However, the national and organizational policies that can be incorporated into training and developmental initiatives to accommodate those who have some form of mental illness are still at an embryonic stage or might be currently underdeveloped in non-Western countries (Follmer & Follmer, 2021; Howard et al., 2021). This happens in spite of the fact that the World Health Organization has identified that the increased absenteeism and decreased productivity among employees who suffer from mental illness cost organizations trillions of dollars annually (World Health Organization, 2011). This might explain why organization researchers have recently started to address numerous mental health disorders, such as depression and anxiety, particularly after understanding their effect on employee presenteeism and well-being (Hennekam et al., 2020a, b, c).

Accordingly, and given the studies by Campion et al. (2020) and Caza et al. (2018), who have asserted the dearth of empirical studies on multiple jobholding, and Hennekam et al. (2021), who have affirmed the lack of management studies that address mental illness in different categories of employees, the authors of the present paper, through using the three dimensions (autonomy, competence, relatedness) of human motivation developed as part of self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), seek to identify the role that holding multiple academic jobs might play in shaping the mental health of management educators in Egyptian public business schools. It is worth highlighting that the quality of management education in Egyptian business schools has been ranked 115 out of 138 (Global competitiveness report, 2017). Accordingly, the authors of the present paper seek to develop practical implications that might benefit these academics.

As part of their theoretical contribution, the authors turn to self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), which considers human motivation as an outcome of three psychological antecedents: autonomy (ability to choose and make decisions), competence (sense of capability) and relatedness (sense of belonging) in asserting that management educators do not perceive the holding of multiple academic roles as a cause of any form of mental illness (e.g., anxiety, depression, stress) if it is accompanied by a sense of autonomy (proper teaching loads, rational time for supervising theses, reasonable requests for research production), a feeling of competence (relevant monthly salary, available training and learning opportunities), and a sense of relatedness (feeling of involvement, flexible work hours, option to work from home). Moreover, and in the context of jobs or roles characterised by low income and limited opportunities for personal and organizational development, individuals (management educators in this case) might need to feel autonomous, empowered and included in order to avoid the threat of mental illness. Therefore, policies of workplace adaptation in which employers (business schools in this case) regularly redefine the interests and priorities of their employees (management educators in this case) is a necessity that should be implemented and maintained. This helps business schools and their academics to not only craft their duties to match personal needs, regulating laws and work requirements (Hennekam et al., 2021; Peterson et al., 2017; Arntz et al., 2016), but also to positively shape their mental health (Muris et al., 2018; Williams, 2016). The remainder of this paper is structured as follows: Following the literature review, the authors will describe the methodology and design of the study, then the results will be presented followed by their discussion, and finally the implications, conclusions, and limitations of the study, and potential for future research.

Literature Review

Multiple Jobholding

While the concept of multiple jobholding has only been recently introduced in management literature through Caza et al. (2018), this is not the case in economics, as holding two or more jobs has been widely addressed by many economists who centre their studies on the US using data disclosed monthly by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (Hipple, 2010; Webster et al., 2019). Accordingly, the question that should be raised here is “why addressing multiple jobholding should become a priority for management and higher education scholars?”. Paxson and Sicherman (1996) point out that at least 50 per cent of men have held more than one job at some point in their lives. Furthermore, the effect of holding more than one job on an individual’s health, social and familial relationships has not been adequately addressed by management researchers given the novelty of the “multiple jobholding” concept in management-related disciplines (Mousa & Alas, 2016; Mousa et al.,  2021a, b, c). Moreover, the rapid digital transformation characterising today’s world has made it easier to do jobs remotely, flexibly and independently (Cascio & Montealegre, 2016; Arntz et al., 2016; Mousa, 2021a, b, c). This helps employees in fulfilling their job duties (Keith et al., 2019; Mousa et al., 2020) on the one hand, and fosters an individual’s readiness to find more than one job, on the other. Lastly, some organization-related behaviours, such as loyalty, commitment and workplace engagement among those with more than one job, have not been addressed by management researchers, and considering the digital turn, it seems timely to theoretically and empirically address their work-related behaviour and attitudes (Webster et al., 2019).

Authors (e.g., Shisko & Rostker, 1976; Hirsch et al., 2016a, b; Throsby & Zednik, 2011) highlight that employees engage in multiple jobholding because of some financial motivations (e.g., paying off debts, meeting regular expenses). Renna and Oaxaca (2006), Arora (2013), Dickey et al. (2015) and Wu et al. (2009) highlight that career development (e.g., learning new skills, gaining experience) might also stimulate individuals to have multiple jobs, while physical aspirations (work addiction, identity constitution and socialising with colleagues) might also be considered a motive for holding multiple jobs (Hackman & Oldham, 1976; Osborne & Warren, 2006; Caza et al., 2018).

Partial Inclusion Theory, Self-determination Theory and Multiple Jobholding in Academic Contexts

In psychology, partial inclusion theory addresses workplace involvement and identifies that individuals can fulfil different roles simultaneously through being affiliated with diverse social groups (Katz & Kahn, 1966). However, the greater the involvement with the role, the greater the readiness an individual can show/employ in fulfilling the duties in that role (Greenhas & Beutell, 1985; Hall, 1976). Accordingly, the greater the involvement with a specific role, the greater the effort and motivation an individual can guarantee for or devote to that role (Greenhaus & Beutell, 1985). In the academic context, the more roles a management educator is involved in, the more time and effort he/she devotes to those roles and the less time he/she can guarantee to exercise, develop and engage in social integration and cohesion (Peters et al., 1981).

An example of multiple jobholding in the academic context is a management educator or business academic who has a full-time academic position in a business school and at the same time works as a lecturer in two or more business schools during the weekends, or maybe a management educator who has a full-time academic position in a business school and simultaneously has a part-time research position in research centres. The conditions for anyone to be perceived as a multiple jobholder is to receive income from two or more workplaces in accordance with some academic responsibilities. Accordingly, a management educator or academic who acts as a business lecturer, for instance, and is the chair of the management department in the same business school is not considered a multiple jobholder because his sources of income are all from the same workplace (business school).

Self-determination theory is a psychological theory that focuses on the engagement, adherence and intrinsic motivation of individuals (Klag et al., 2010; Williams et al., 1998; Ryan & Deci, 2000). Such intrinsic motivation always stems from the individual’s psychological needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness (Ryan & Deci, 2000). The following further explains the three dimensions of intrinsic motivation.

First, autonomy, which describes an individual’s ability to choose and decide whether he/she performs a task. Specifically, it reflects an individual’s internal perceived locus of causality (Ryan & Deci, 2000). For management educators, their sense of autonomy originates from feeling appreciated, listened to by deans and being able to exercise their rights to effectively participate in decision-making processes, particularly when directly related to their careers and academic duties. Authors (e.g., Zuroff et al., 2007; Klag et al., 2010) assert a positive association between an individual’s perceived autonomy and his mental health.

Second, competence, which reflects the knowledge, skills and abilities an individual has and exercises to effectively realise his desired work and life outcomes (Ryan & Deci, 2000). In the case of management educators, the feeling of competence comes from the ongoing support they perceive from their business schools. This includes and is not limited to training, coaching, continuous feedback and regular rewards. Green et al. (2010) affirm the positive effect of an individual’s competence on his mental health.

Third, relatedness, which points to an individual’s need to be connected and included by others (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Social support has proved to be negatively associated with depression, anxiety and stress (Rowe et al., 2013). Management educators, like others, need to develop a sense of both uniqueness and integration (Mousa, 2021a, b) in order to alleviate any mental illness they might face.

Mental Illness

Authors (e.g., Mousa & Abdelgaffar, 2021; Dietrich et al., 2014; Mousa & Alas, 2016) elaborate that those who have some form of mental illness mostly lose their sense of belongingness, feelings of inclusion and accordingly tend to live and work in isolation apart from their work colleagues and social counterparts. This is why Kotera and Maughan (2020) highlight that mental illness usually activates feelings of shame and curbs the feeling of self-compassion (Yusoff et al., 2010). Corrigan et al. (2005) highlight that employees with mental illness are perceived as unstable and even dangerous to their colleagues, while Hand and Tryssenaar (2006) indicate that they lack the skills necessary for managing stress and resolving conflicts in the thoughts of many managers. This might explain their poor representation in labour markets in comparison with other working groups including those with physical disabilities (Ren et al., 2008; Harris et al., 2014; Krupa, 2010). Williams (2016) and Muris et al. (2018) indicate that mental illness entails a human experience in which the individual needs nothing except empathy, which might help him overcome the negative consequences of the mental illness. Furthermore, authors (e.g., Elraz, 2018; Thomas et al., 2019; Kyaga et al., 2011) have recently articulated that some of those who have mental illness tend to engage in continuous learning activities more than their healthy counterparts not only to manage their limitations but also to find meaning in their life and work.

According to Kessler et al. (2009), 18 per cent of the world’s population suffer from some form (e.g., depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, etc.) of mental illness during their lives. Moreover, the challenges employees with mental illness face in the working environment raises questions regarding workplace adaptation, which reflects “changes to the work environment that allow people with disabilities to work safely and productively” (Equal Opportunity Act, 2010) and the implementation of such changes in different organizational settings. Authors (e.g., Hennekam et al., 2020c; van Niekerk, 2009; McAlpine & Warner, 2015; Mousa, 2021a; Alas & Mousa, 2016; Mousa, 2020a, b) affirm that developing inclusive work contexts through crafting job duties to meet the capabilities of disabled and non-disabled employees might not only secure job opportunities for disabled employees, including those with mental illness, but also ensure individual well-being. Peterson et al. (2017) have perceived the development of inclusive workplaces as a serious attempt to improve organizational reputation on the one hand and a mechanism to stimulate loyalty among employees and other stakeholders on the other hand.

Mental Illness of Egyptian Management Educators

In academic contexts, scholars have only addressed students with mental challenges. Levercque et al. (2017) highlight that 32 per cent of PhD candidates in Belgium suffer from some mental challenges (e.g., depression and anxiety), while this ratio increases to 47 per cent among PhD students in Dutch universities (Mattijssen et al., 2020). Previous studies consider social media (Jacobsen & Forste, 2011), tuition fees (Gani, 2016) and heavy work/study loads (Yusoff et al., 2010; Mousa & Samara, 2022; Mousa & Chaouali, 2021; Mousa, 2021a, b) as the main antecedents for mental illness in students. The authors of the present paper in line with Sverdlik et al. (2018) assert the dearth of both theoretical and empirical studies on mental health issues among academics. The same can be said about management educators in the Egyptian academic context – the authors could not find any published studies despite their extensive search and screening in different academic databases (e.g., ProQuest, EBSCO). Apart from academia, the mental health of Egyptian adults after the spread of COVID-19 has been addressed by Saleh (2020), who affirms that job insecurity and financial difficulties stimulate mental health disorders among the adults in his study.

Research Methodology

Sample

To investigate the experience of the relationship between multiple jobholding and mental illness among management educators, the authors of the present paper employed a qualitative research method. Van Manen (1990) indicates that the researcher using a qualitative research design usually investigates phenomena through conducting interviews, observing and articulating experiences. Hence, the authors of this paper also employed a social constructivist approach and accordingly form meanings through discovering and then articulating what respondents, management educators in this case, might disclose about their daily experience, activity and life in their work settings, business schools in this case (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). It is worth highlighting that the research here into multiple jobholding in academia and the mental health of management educators is part of a larger empirical study examining the mental health of management educators in Egyptian public business schools towards positively shaping this area. According to its website (www.scu.eg ), the Egyptian supreme council of universities recognises 25 universities and each of them includes a business school, making 25 the total number of public business schools recognised in Egypt. The authors of this paper used the personal network of one of the authors combined with the snowball sampling technique to find 32 respondents (management educators in this case) from four of the public business schools in Egypt. It is also worth highlighting that one of the authors of the present paper worked as a research and teaching assistant in one of these Egyptian public business schools during an earlier stage in his life and before relocating to Europe where he completed his master’s and doctoral studies and now works as an associate professor. However, his personal contacts with many of the management educators in both public business schools have facilitated the process of finding respondents and collecting data. All the respondents interviewed by one of the authors were full-time management educators working in one of three different public business schools in Egypt. Moreover, as appeared in the interviews conducted, they hold multiple academic roles. However, they only have official work contracts with their primary business schools while the other private business schools and/or training centres they work in secure them nothing more than a memorandum of understanding. Table 1 shows the main demographic characteristics of the respondents.

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of the respondents
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Accordingly, one of the authors conducted 32 semi-structured interviews in order to collect the data. Moreover, the respondents as management educators were directly asked about multiple jobholding, depression, stress, anxiety, autonomy, empowerment, competence, inclusion and financial remuneration. Table 2 shows the interview questions composed by the authors.

Table 2 List of interview questions
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Procedures

As mentioned earlier, the total number of interviews conducted was 32 and the duration of each was approximately 45–60 min. Furthermore, all of the conducted interviews were in English and conducted by one of the authors. The author who conducted the interviews was psychologically well prepared to avoid any emotional involvement with his respondents. What contributed to that was his experience in publishing many articles using qualitative and ethnographic research methods. It is also worth highlighting that due to the sensitivity of the topic, half of the interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed, while the author took very detailed notes throughout the other interviews. Moreover, the respondents (management educators) were informed that they could refuse to answer any interview question that might involve some level of embarrassment for them.

Data Analysis

As the participants were encouraged to co-construct their experience in regard to multiple academic jobholding and mental illness, they were asked questions that stimulated them to describe their experience of stress, anxiety and psychological disorders, discuss the significance of being empowered and feeling involved, and explore the relationship between multiple job holding and mental illness.

The authors of the present paper coded the data manually. The collected data was then analysed in three stages (Strauss & Cobin, 1990). First, the authors analysed the data collected from each business school separately in order to form a contextual overview of mental health disorders and meaningful work within each school. Second, the authors identified themes by combining the data collected. This helped in examining the relationship between multiple jobholding and mental illness. The authors addressed the participants’ feelings and/or experiences of stress, anxiety, holding more than two academic roles, and receiving income from two or more business schools. This is in agreement with Alvesson and Karreman (2011), who argue for greater focus on participant sense-making through considering the participants’ discourse as a social tie that links researchers, participants and the concept(s) under consideration. Alvesson (2011) highlights that the collected materials cannot be easily codified but analysis that guarantees rational interpretation is nevertheless occasionally possible. Third, the authors identified some of the in-depth reflections expressed by the participants in order to gain more insight into holding multiple academic job roles and experiencing mental illness.

Findings

Drawing on the theories of partial inclusion (Katz & Kahn, 1966) and self-determination (Ryan & Deci, 2000), we constituted the following three themes.

Theme 1: Autonomy Within Partial Inclusion

According to partial inclusion theory (Katz & Kahn, 1966), individuals can be involved within different social groups and hence able to fulfil different work and/or life roles. That is also the case for management educators who can fulfil different academic job roles simultaneously through affiliating themselves with different academic departments, research groups, teaching teams and even consulting providers (Peters et al., 1981). However, it is always normal to find that the educator/academic devotes a greater number of hours to his primary job while less hours to other roles (Hipple, 2010).

Fulfilling diverse job roles at the same time does not only point to the educator’s motivation/readiness to have multiple professions but rather an implicit permission from his workplace allowing him/her to have more than one income, employer and workload simultaneously (Arntz et al., 2016; Mousa & Alas, 2016). However, the responsibility for maintaining loyalty and effectiveness in fulfilling disparate duties remains on the shoulders of the employee. Some authors (e.g., Elraz, 2018; Thomas et al., 2019; Kyaga et al., 2011) have noted that if those who have mental illness are provided flexibility and autonomy, they tend to engage in learning/work activities more than their healthy counterparts to not only mitigate the negative consequences of mental illness but also maintain a sense of purpose of their life. Therefore, whenever management educators are afforded sufficient autonomy, mental illness can be effectively dealt with.

“What causes mental illness is nothing except working in the same business school and meeting the same colleagues daily without any change in the teaching responsibilities, research ideas and types of debates and discussion.” Respondent 3.

“Feeling autonomous to select academic tasks, finding co-authors for my articles outside of my department, being a guest lecturer in some other schools and choosing to whom I can provide consulting services does not stimulate any mental illness. Instead, it elicits us to feel superior and to recognise that our academic role is really respected and understood.” Respondent 5.

“Do you know what is the meaning of having multiple academic jobs? It reflects the joy of feeling independent, flexible and appreciated. It is also the magic of constituting social academic networks that help in authoring, being promoted and gaining publicity.” Respondent 1.

“Holding multiple academic roles in different business schools and research centres not only reflects a sign of success and that I am desired by different workplaces but also it represents the endeavour that I might pass through to become an academic star on the one hand and maintaining career commitment on the other.” Respondent 24.

“How can you feel depressed and/or stressed if you fulfil diverse responsibilities in different workplaces, develop social networks, feel recognised and earn multiple incomes too?” Respondent 22.

“I never feel anxious if I am the one who decides my work-related responsibilities, have rational teaching loads and supervise a relevant number of theses. Mental illness can be simply managed in academic arenas if autonomy exists, neutral workplace communication maintained and responsibility guides them.” Respondent 17.

Theme 2: Competence and Workplace Adaptation

In self-determination theory, Ryan and Deci (2000) highlight that competence reflects the knowledge, skills and abilities individuals have to have and use in realising their desired work goals (academic aims in this case) and life outcomes (feeling well). The question that should be raised here is how can management educators feel competent? The answer is that they, like other employees, can feel happy and satisfied if they can manage their life’s financial obligations, able to learn new skills and also have time for a social life. Authors (e.g., Hirsch et al., 2016a, b; Arora, 2013) highlight that employees currently feel motivated to hold multiple jobs because of financial motives (meeting regular expenses), developing their academic career (gaining experience) (Wu et al., 2009) and ensuring physical aspirations (socialising with colleagues) (Caza et al., 2018).

Management educators, given the nature of their jobs, can hold multiple jobs and mostly tend to do that not only because of financial motives but also for the sake of identity, learning new skills and gaining more experience. However, and according to the equal employment act (2010), management educators can hold multiple jobs without facing the threat of mental illness if their work contexts implement “workplace adaptation policies” in which organizations, business schools in this case, respond to changes in work environments to allow people who might suffer from depression, stress and other mental health disorders to work safely and productively. In other words, crafting the job duties of management educators through assigning them rational teaching hours, research activities and time for supervising theses can help academics/educators in not only holding multiple job roles but also ensuring their well-being and guaranteeing them the time for a social life (Peterson et al., 2017). Therefore, competence plays a role for management educators who hold multiple job roles in countering the mental health challenges they might face.

“I feel satisfied and empowered when discussing with colleagues from different business schools in different research areas and teaching pedagogies. It is my only way to gain experience as my school does not guarantee for me and my colleagues any opportunities for learning and training.” Respondent 11.

“Stress and depression are always derived from the low income I get from my main primary business school. I will never feel disabled if I find multiple incomes at the end of the month in order to secure my familial expenses and practicing the life of other classes of employees such as managers of banks and physicians.” Respondent 15.

“Holding multiple jobs in academia should be a norm as academic duties are similar everywhere and I can teach in my primary business school what I teach in others. Accordingly, and as an academic, I will not have extra effort and/or exaggerated duties. Our obligations are known whatever the number of roles and regardless of the number of affiliations.” Respondent 19.

“Depression will never be felt when I have money to own a house, apartment and know to spend a vacation regularly. I would not say I can travel to famous Greek islands like physicians and bank managers do but at least my family and I can find a space in the Egyptian tourist options and sandy beaches.” Respondent 12.

“I agree to have a single/ sole academic role in only one business school, but I need it to secure for me a rational income, regular learning opportunities, ongoing training, access to academic databases and clear neutral set of procedures in order to be promoted and maybe fulfilling senior administrative position in academic settings.” Respondent 2.

“We are really suffering in this country. Our income is one of the lowest and worst in Egypt. My monthly salary as an assistant professor from my primary business school is 6,000 Egyptian pounds (approximately 300 euros). I just work in three business schools as a lecturer in order to raise my income by 4,000–6,000 Egyptian pounds more. I know the government in Egypt will never treat us like policemen and judges. Accordingly, I just try to survive and avoid the mental illness which originates from poverty.” Respondent 14.

Theme 3: Relatedness

Relatedness has been perceived by Ryan and Deci (2000) in their self-determination theory as the third psychological need eliciting intrinsic motivation in individuals. Mousa and Abdelgaffar (2021) and Dietrich et al. (2014) indicate that those who have some forms of mental illness such as anxiety or stress constantly feel excluded and always miss the feeling of involvement. Therefore, empathy might be considered one of the main virtues stimulating individuals to perceive mental illness as a human experience everyone is exposed to (Williams, 2016; Muris et al., 2018). In the case of management educators who hold multiple jobs, relatedness can mitigate any chances for having mental illness if workplaces (business schools in this case) develop an inclusive workplace culture in which the uniqueness and flexibility of educators are respected and maintained (Mousa, 2021a; Peterson et al., 2017; McAlpine & Warner, 2015).

“Mental illness is never felt if there are flexible work options and/or working from home dynamics. Such flexible work options represent a form of inclusion.” Respondent 6.

“In my case where my salary from the primary business school I work in is not high, the sense of inclusion comes from the empathy the dean and department chair show in assigning me reasonable workloads.” Respondent 9.

“Work-related anxiety can be effectively managed when I feel appreciated by my business school. The appreciation here entails the flexibility to allow me to work at some other business schools from which I can find additional income. For your information, many classes of employees in Egypt have multiple jobs and the law guarantees them this right even though their salaries are higher than ours.” Respondent 8.

Discussion

Theoretical Contribution

Our first theoretical contribution lies in addressing the effect of multiple academic jobholding on the mental health of management educators. Considering Campion et al. (2020) and Caza et al. (2018), who have asserted the dearth of empirical studies on multiple jobholding and Hennekam et al. (2021) who have affirmed the lack of management studies that addressed mental illness in different categories of employees, the authors of the present paper, through using the three dimensions (autonomy, competence, relatedness) of human motivation developed in self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000), decided to use a qualitative research method involving semi-structured interviews with educators in public business schools and concluded that academics/management educators in that context do not perceive the holding of multiple academic roles as a stimulant of any form of mental illness (e.g., anxiety, depression, stress) if accompanied by a sense of autonomy (proper teaching loads, rational time for supervising theses, reasonable requests for research production), a feeling of competence (relevant monthly salary, available training and learning opportunities), and a sense of relatedness (feeling of involvement, flexible work hours, option to work from home).

The second main theoretical contribution of this study lies in empirically proving that in the higher education context, mental illness in management educators was mainly caused by poor income that might not be sufficient to enable them to guarantee their families the same level of life others enjoy and a lack of learning, training and development opportunities; this not only slows down their career progress but also limits their chances to develop social networks needed for promotion and even maintaining purpose and recognition.

Our third contribution lies in extending the theoretical scope of self-determination theory (Rayan & Deci, 2000) by showing that in the context of jobs/roles characterised by low income and limited chances for personal and organizational development, individuals (management educators in this case) might need to feel autonomous, empowered and included in order to avoid the threat of mental illness. Therefore, the policies of workplace adaptation in which employers (business schools in this case) regularly redefine the interests and priorities of their employees (management educators in this case) are necessary and should be implemented and maintained. This helps business schools and their academics to not only craft their job duties in line with personal needs, regulations and work needs (Hennekam et al., 2021; Peterson et al., 2017; Arntz et al., 2016) but also to positively shape their mental health (Muris et al., 2018; Williams, 2016).

Practical Implications

First, the authors suggest the addressed management educators request their business schools to establish units for managing their mental health. Such units should include psychiatrists and/or psychological counsellors who can monitor levels of stress, depression and anxiety in a regular manner. Those psychiatrists and counsellors should play a role in assigning management educators reasonable teaching loads. This can be easily identified through consulting the educators regularly in order to decide their readiness for a particular load in relation to teaching, research and supervisory duties. Establishing such units implicitly entails a sense of appreciation that business schools can show its educators. This will positively impact the well-being, satisfaction and happiness of management educators.

Second, the authors suggest management educators to raise their voice and ask the administration of their business schools to revisit the salaries they are currently paid. Management educators, like other classes of employees, will never think about combining or holding multiple academic jobs if they receive a reasonable salary from their primary workplace. Moreover, business schools should reconsider the basic needs of their educators and their families. The authors think that even though the management educators in this study did not see having multiple jobs as a burden, such a situation reduces the time those educators devote to their familial obligations but also decreases the hours directed to research and studies. Accordingly, the salaries of management educators should be re-visited.

Third, the authors suggest the addressed educators ask the administration of their business schools to design, implement and maintain a detailed agenda for learning, empowerment and professional development. It is no longer acceptable that educators should depend on themselves to find and fund their learning and training opportunities. Business schools should specify what they need from their educators in terms of teaching, research and supervising theses and accordingly, tailor an annually adaptable empowerment agenda through which the knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences that they are expected to possess are determined and the schools hire qualified trainers to guide management educators in attaining these.

Limitations and Future Research

Addressing the opinions of management educators in public business schools without considering the views of their deans and department chairs is considered the first limitation that might hinder a comprehensive picture of holding multiple academic roles and its effect on the mental health of management educators. Addressing management educators in public business schools without paying attention to those who work in private schools may also be perceived as a second limitation hindering the authors’ ability to generalise the paper’s findings.

Future research could address the deans in the addressed public business schools to find out their perception of how holding multiple jobs in academic contexts might contribute to mitigating anxiety, stress and other mental health disorders, particularly after hearing from the addressed management educators in this paper that earning income from different business schools is the only way for them to survive and secure their families’ basic needs. Furthermore, the authors invite scholars from the disciplines of public health, public policy, organizational psychology, human resources management and higher education to collaborate in producing multi-disciplinary research papers identifying the main causes of mental illness management educators might face and how to deal with them.